Chapter 6 - The Woman at Dante’s Right Hand
The boardroom at Moretti Tower was full when Lucy arrived.
Twelve senior men sat around the black marble table.
Dante stood at one end.
Anthony Moretti stood at the other.
Enzo was beside Dante.
Nobody expected Lucy.
Anthony looked at her.
“This does not concern staff.”
Lucy closed the door.
“Good thing I’m not staff.”
Dante’s eyes met hers.
He said nothing.
That mattered.
He let her choose why she had come.
Anthony addressed the room.
“My nephew has forgotten what built this organization.”
Dante replied, “Apparently fake invoices.”
Several men shifted.
Anthony ignored him.
“He puts confidential decisions into the hands of outsiders.”
His eyes moved toward Lucy.
“He insults men who spent decades creating what he inherited.”
Lucy opened her bag.
Anthony laughed.
“What are you going to do? Translate us into submission?”
“No.”
She placed a recorder on the table.
“I’m going to translate you.”
Anthony’s smile vanished.
Lucy pressed play.
His voicemail filled the room.
Most of it was English.
But the final sentence had been Italian.
An old Sicilian expression.
Anthony had assumed Lucy wouldn’t understand.
She did.
Lucy translated aloud.
“Tomorrow, we remove the chained dog and put the house back in the hands of men.”
Dante’s eyes hardened.
The phrase matched something.
Lucy saw recognition hit him.
Then Enzo.
Dante looked at Anthony.
“Chained dog.”
Anthony remained silent.
Dante walked slowly around the table.
“That’s what Pierre called me during the Corsican negotiation.”
Lucy nodded.
“Exactly.”
Dante turned.
“Only four people knew about that insult.”
Enzo counted.
“Dante. Lucy. Me.”
He looked at Anthony.
“And Pierre.”
Lucy continued.
“Pierre’s company received money from one of Vincent Hale’s shell accounts.”
Now the room changed.
Anthony said, “Fabricated.”
Lucy opened the folder.
“Bank records.”
He looked toward the other captains.
“She is manipulating you.”
“No,” Lucy said.
“You’ve been using the same blind spots Vincent and Felix used. Different languages. Different shell companies. Different departments.”
Dante’s stare never left his uncle.
“You recruited Vincent?”
Anthony smiled coldly.
“I protected what your father built.”
“You stole from it.”
“I redirected resources.”
Enzo laughed without humor.
“That’s an impressive translation.”
Anthony slammed his hand down.
“You softened this organization.”
He pointed at Lucy.
“Because of her.”
Dante’s voice dropped.
“No.”
Anthony looked at him.
“Because I discovered people like you depended on me never checking.”
Silence.
Anthony stepped closer.
“You think she stands beside you because she respects you?”
Lucy answered first.
“I’m standing here because I chose to.”
Anthony laughed.
“You worked as his maid.”
“I did.”
“You belonged to this house.”
Lucy’s expression became cold.
“No.”
Dante looked at his uncle.
“She never belonged to me.”
The room went utterly still.
Anthony smiled.
“Careful, nephew. You’re beginning to sound sentimental.”
Dante took another step.
“You mistook restraint for weakness.”
Anthony’s smile disappeared.
“You built an empire where nobody could question senior men,” Dante continued. “Vincent exploited it. Felix exploited it. You exploited it.”
Dante glanced toward the captains.
“And I allowed it.”
That admission shocked them more than accusation would have.
Dante continued.
“So here’s the vote.”
Anthony frowned.
“What?”
“Anyone who wants the old system back can leave with Anthony.”
Nobody moved.
Anthony stared around the room.
“You cowards.”
Dante waited.
One captain finally spoke.
“I lost thirty percent of my budget to fake suppliers last year.”
Another nodded.
“My crew was blamed for missing cargo.”
A third man leaned back.
“If Moretti oversight found the theft, I’m staying with Moretti oversight.”
Anthony’s face became pale.
The empire had not turned against Dante.
It had turned against the men profiting from its blindness.
Enzo opened the door.
“Meeting’s over, Uncle Anthony.”
Anthony looked at Dante.
“You’d choose her over blood?”
Dante glanced at Lucy.
Then back.
“I choose truth over theft.”
Anthony left.
The doors closed.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Then one captain asked Lucy, “So what happens now?”
Lucy looked at Dante.
He did not answer for her.
She appreciated that.
“Now,” she said, “you build a system that still works when the smartest person in the room is wrong.”
The captain frowned.
“How?”
“Everyone gets questioned.”
Enzo smiled.
“Even Dante?”
Lucy looked toward him.
“Especially Dante.”
All eyes moved toward the boss.
Dante sighed.
“I’m beginning to regret hiring her.”
Lucy smiled.
“You negotiated the contract.”
After the meeting, the boardroom emptied.
Lucy remained by the windows.
Dante approached.
“You came back.”
“Temporarily.”
His mouth tightened.
“That qualifier was unnecessary.”
“It felt necessary.”
He stood beside her.
“I found who accessed your father’s records.”
“Anthony.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He’s out. Permanently.”
Lucy studied him.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning legally.”
She relaxed slightly.
Dante noticed.
“I’m learning.”
“Slowly.”
He looked down at her.
“Stay.”
Her expression changed.
He corrected himself.
“I want you to stay.”
“That’s better.”
“As my advisor.”
Lucy waited.
“And?”
Dante struggled with the next words more than he had with armed rivals.
Finally he said, “And because the rooms are quieter when you’re gone.”
Lucy looked at him.
“That sounded dangerously close to honesty.”
“I won’t repeat it.”
She smiled.
May you like
“Then I’ll remember it.”
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